Door for grain-cars.



M. J. JOYCE.

DOOR FOR GRAIN CARS. APPLICATION FILED NOV. 31, I916.

Patented Apr. 22,1919.

MICHAEL J. JOYCE, or CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIG-NOR or ONE-HALF '10 enoaenrnomrson, or OAK PARK, ILLINOIS.

DOOR GRAIN-CARS.

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Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 22, 1919..

Application filed October 31. 1916. Serial No. 128,673.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MICHAEL J JOYCE, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented a certain new and useful Improvement in Doors for Grain- Cars,of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and eXact description,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of thisspecification.

My invention relates to doors for freight or similar cars, and has forits object the provision of doors which are readily removable andreplaceable, and which are adapted to properly hold grain or similarmaterials in place within the car.

A further object of my invention is to pro vide doors which may bemounted in place in sections one above the other, each sectioncomprising a pair of door elements together forming an archedconstruction. My invention further contemplates the provision of asupplemental floor construction between the different vertical sectionsof the door, thus to make allowances for inequalities should the variousvertical sections not ontirely be alined.

I will describe my invention more in detail by referring to theaccompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinalsectional view through a car illustrating a portion of the car bodyshowing my improved doors in place;

Fig. 2 is a sectional. view on line 2-2 of Fig. 1; and

Fig.3 is a fragmentary sectional view on line -et of Fig. 2.

Referring more particularly to Figs. 1 and 2, I show a car 10 having thefloor 11 and roof 12. This car has a door opening 13 extending the fullheight of the car, this door opening having the customary door posts 11, 14:. The car is designed to carry grain or other similar smallmaterials, and in order to close this door opening, I provide a doorconsisting of the elements 15 and 16. These door elements are made sothat at their meeting ends they. dovetail as shown clearly at 17.

The outer edges of the doors'ections 15, 16 are grooved throughout theirlength so as to embrace the inner corners of the door posts 14. Thus thegrooved door edges in fitting over the corners of the door posts .14will hold the door sections in place, the

pressure from the grain against the inner side of the arch formed by thedoor sections holding the door securely in place.

It will thus be seen more clearly from the plan view of Fig. 2 thatthe'door elements 15 and 16 supported at their grooved extremitiesdirectly upon the corners of the door posts 14 and interlocked at theirmeetmg extremities form an arched construction, thus making a secureclosure for the car capable of withstanding the great pressure caused bythe heavy grain or similar material with which the car is loaded.

The vertical height of the sections may be any size to facilitate properloading. I have shown in Fig. 1 two vertical sections of closure, thelower section consisting of the door elements 15 and 16 and the uppersection consisting of the elements 24 and 25, the elements 24 and 25being the counter parts of the elements 15 and 16 except that they areof less height. As before stated, the number of vertical sections can bemade any desired number to facilitate loading or unloading.

In order to properly superpose these vertical sections to avoid thepossibility of leakage, I provide supplemental fioor elements 26, therebeing a supplemental floor element 26 between the vertical sections ofdoor elements. The supplemental floor element 26 is laid on top of thedoor elements 15 and 16. It very frequently happens of course that dueto severe handling the superposed vertical sections may not alineproperly and the supplemental floor section provides a meeting placeprimarily to properly support the door elements placed on top of it andat the same time to obviate any difficulty due to non-alinement of thesevertical sections. Furthermore, it is the custom when removing doorelements, to place a crow-bar or similar instrument under the doorelement and thus raise it upwardly. The floor section 26' thus serves anadditional purpose. After the door elements have been raised to permitthe material back of them to flow out thereunder, it is a simple matterto remove these door elements. In order to hold them in place hooks 28are provided, as readily apparent from Figs. 1 and 2.

From what I have thus described the advantages of m invention Will bereadily clear to those siiilled in the art.

Havinghowever thus described my invention, What I claim as new anddesire to secure by Letters Patent is:

A grain door for cars comprising two interlocking door elements formingan arch, saiddoor elements having grooved edges along their outerextremities adapted to engage the corner posts of the car door frame andinterlocking edges at their inner ex-.

tremities whereby said door elements are maintained in position Whenpressure is exerted from Within.

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 24th day ofOctober, A. D.

Copies. 01' this patent may, be obtainea for five cents each, by,addressing the commissioner of Patents, Washington, I). 0;

